Hannah Richter
@hannah-richter.bsky.social
Freelance science journalist covering Earth, space, and science policy🌎🪐
Writing for Science's ScienceAdviser newsletter📧
M.S. MIT Science Writing '24✏️
Read me: https://www.hannah-richter.com/ | Contact me: hannahroserichter@gmail.com
Writing for Science's ScienceAdviser newsletter📧
M.S. MIT Science Writing '24✏️
Read me: https://www.hannah-richter.com/ | Contact me: hannahroserichter@gmail.com
“An abdication of U.S. leadership”—that's how the scientific and policy communities see the White House's push to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 🌪️🪓
Read my 3rd story from AGU for
@science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather
Read my 3rd story from AGU for
@science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather
Trump administration moves to break up leading U.S. climate and weather center
White House budget director calls the National Center for Atmospheric Research a source of “climate alarmism”
www.science.org
December 17, 2025 at 11:36 PM
“An abdication of U.S. leadership”—that's how the scientific and policy communities see the White House's push to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 🌪️🪓
Read my 3rd story from AGU for
@science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather
Read my 3rd story from AGU for
@science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been a member of the deep-sea club for almost 2 decades. New research might revoke its water world card. 🪐 🌊
My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa
My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa
Titan might not have an ocean after all
A reanalysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission suggests Saturn’s icy moon may lack the subsurface ocean presumed for a decade
www.science.org
December 17, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been a member of the deep-sea club for almost 2 decades. New research might revoke its water world card. 🪐 🌊
My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa
My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa
Do you wanna build an ice dome? 🧊🔨
Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight
Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight
Martian cities could be built from ice
Astronauts could theoretically harness frozen water on the Red Planet to construct habitats and research stations, new analysis suggests
www.science.org
December 17, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Do you wanna build an ice dome? 🧊🔨
Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight
Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight
From California to Florida, projects to manually refill aquifers by pumping in highly treated wastewater are underway.💧 But they have a shaky downside: the potential to cause earthquakes.🪨 🚩
Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca
Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca
Replenishing sapped groundwater could trigger small earthquakes
A boom in aquifer injection projects could unlock long-quiet faults
tinyurl.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:23 PM
From California to Florida, projects to manually refill aquifers by pumping in highly treated wastewater are underway.💧 But they have a shaky downside: the potential to cause earthquakes.🪨 🚩
Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca
Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca
Trump has brought a national chill to U.S. science. But what about state actions? 🚩🏛️
For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62
For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62
In red states, many academic researchers feel fear–and resolve
State-level mandates prompt changes and small acts of resistance at universities
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Trump has brought a national chill to U.S. science. But what about state actions? 🚩🏛️
For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62
For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62
A hyperlocal story for @eos.org about a vulnerable population in the path of climate change🌡️
There are roughly 4 million garment workers in Bangladesh. As temperatures rise, how can they stay cool? eos.org/articles/gar...
Garment Factories Are Heating Up. Here’s How Workers Can Stay Cool - Eos
The solutions are simple, but economic barriers remain high.
eos.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:24 PM
A hyperlocal story for @eos.org about a vulnerable population in the path of climate change🌡️
Glaciologists are "kind of like one of those crime shows…‘Who Killed the Ice Shelf?’"
A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
Antarctic glacier shows fastest retreat in modern history
Tides and glacial earthquakes caused record ice loss at Hektoria Glacier
www.science.org
November 3, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Glaciologists are "kind of like one of those crime shows…‘Who Killed the Ice Shelf?’"
A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
What's worse than getting your grant cut by the Trump administration? Getting it cut by accident. ❌🪲 Thank you to this Louisiana Tech ecologist for letting me share her story in @sierramagazine.bsky.social: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ecolo... #trump #ecology #nsf
This Ecologist Lost Her Grant for Studying Diversity—of Insects
The federal trawling of grants for misaligned priorities has brought in bycatch
www.sierraclub.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:16 PM
What's worse than getting your grant cut by the Trump administration? Getting it cut by accident. ❌🪲 Thank you to this Louisiana Tech ecologist for letting me share her story in @sierramagazine.bsky.social: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ecolo... #trump #ecology #nsf
Reposted by Hannah Richter
Where are critical minerals hiding? Plate tectonics might hold clues.🧪⚒️
New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...
New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...
To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos
A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.
eos.org
October 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Where are critical minerals hiding? Plate tectonics might hold clues.🧪⚒️
New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...
New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...
90% of the world's niobium comes from a single operation in Brazil 🪨 ⛏️ . More might be hiding in the scars left by an ancient supercontinent breakup.
Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining
Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining
To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos
A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.
eos.org
October 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
90% of the world's niobium comes from a single operation in Brazil 🪨 ⛏️ . More might be hiding in the scars left by an ancient supercontinent breakup.
Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining
Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining
For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️
The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy
The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy
Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found
Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*
tinyurl.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:40 PM
For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️
The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy
The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy
The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa
NASA Faces Government Shutdown, Funding Fears Rise
While civil servants are furloughed or working without pay, funding for NASA remains uncertain.
tinyurl.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa
Cooling 1 data center's electronics and venting the heat 💻 = 40,000 U.S. households' energy 🏠. New research suggests a way to waste less power with the help of solar—even as the U.S. moves away from renewables.☀️🔌 #solar #ai
@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy
Solar water heaters could recoup 8% of the electricity needs of AI computer farms
www.science.org
September 24, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Cooling 1 data center's electronics and venting the heat 💻 = 40,000 U.S. households' energy 🏠. New research suggests a way to waste less power with the help of solar—even as the U.S. moves away from renewables.☀️🔌 #solar #ai
@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
The 2025 Ig Nobel-winning research was as wacky as ever. But wars, visa restrictions, Trump's border and research policies, and even an all-too-frequent airplane incident kept nearly half the winning teams from traveling to Boston @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
The Ig Nobels are science’s most lighthearted event. This year is ‘not typical’
Amid Trump research cuts, visa restrictions, and international conflicts, some winners sit out the celebration of whimsical science
www.science.org
September 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
The 2025 Ig Nobel-winning research was as wacky as ever. But wars, visa restrictions, Trump's border and research policies, and even an all-too-frequent airplane incident kept nearly half the winning teams from traveling to Boston @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
I got to tell the inside story of NASA's historic DART mission for Popular Mechanics and Apple News+. 🛰️☄️As one source put it, “The probability is low that an asteroid will hit us. But at the same time, it is the only natural disaster that we can predict and act against.”🌍 tinyurl.com/2xvskbuh #nasa
Inside NASA’s Wild Space Mission to Defend Earth Against a Planet-Killing Asteroid
A mighty, cosmos-altering rocket could be the only thing that saves humanity from extinction.
www.popularmechanics.com
August 25, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I got to tell the inside story of NASA's historic DART mission for Popular Mechanics and Apple News+. 🛰️☄️As one source put it, “The probability is low that an asteroid will hit us. But at the same time, it is the only natural disaster that we can predict and act against.”🌍 tinyurl.com/2xvskbuh #nasa
Somewhere, over the space rainbow...🪨🌈 @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #nasa
Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Might Have Weird “Space Rainbows”
Scouring old data from NASA’s Cassini mission revealed puzzling atmospheric stripes that could help probe Saturn’s icy moon.
skyandtelescope.org
August 18, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Somewhere, over the space rainbow...🪨🌈 @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #nasa
Is BlueSky toxic? Maybe - but there's no algorithm to blame. Read more in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Don’t blame the algorithm: Polarization may be inherent in social media
In simulations, AI-generated users of stripped-down social media without content algorithms still split into polarized echo chambers
www.science.org
August 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Is BlueSky toxic? Maybe - but there's no algorithm to blame. Read more in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
"Like trying to build a house without a two-by-four" - Trump leaves NASA missions on the table, but guts the fuel needed to get there. Read my first story for @sciam.bsky.social : www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum... #nasa #trump #space #astronomy
NASA Budget Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System
The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years
www.scientificamerican.com
August 14, 2025 at 5:28 PM
"Like trying to build a house without a two-by-four" - Trump leaves NASA missions on the table, but guts the fuel needed to get there. Read my first story for @sciam.bsky.social : www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum... #nasa #trump #space #astronomy
Reposted by Hannah Richter
The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years
Trump Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System
The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years
www.scientificamerican.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years
Reposted by Hannah Richter
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: While the Trump administration is ordering NASA to build a lunar nuclear reactor, it's also proposing cuts that'd end NASA's nuclear-powered exploration of the solar system. Will Congress push back? By @hannah-richter.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
Trump Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System
The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years
www.scientificamerican.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: While the Trump administration is ordering NASA to build a lunar nuclear reactor, it's also proposing cuts that'd end NASA's nuclear-powered exploration of the solar system. Will Congress push back? By @hannah-richter.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...
More budget chaos—and an "aggressive interpretation of executive authority"—before the scientific futures of NASA, NOAA, and the NSF are settled 🛰️🔬☁️. Read my update today in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #trump #nasa #science #noaa #nsf #congress
Congress’s NASA and NSF Budgets Counter Trump, Fund Science
The House and Senate bill drafts keep NASA near current funding levels, but the Trump administration is nevertheless readying the agency for heavy cuts
skyandtelescope.org
July 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
More budget chaos—and an "aggressive interpretation of executive authority"—before the scientific futures of NASA, NOAA, and the NSF are settled 🛰️🔬☁️. Read my update today in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #trump #nasa #science #noaa #nsf #congress
An important step to using clean, natural hydrogen fuel⛽ ? Figuring out how it rises tantalizingly close to Earth's surface in "fairy circles"🪨. Read about a new theory in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
How hydrogen-leaking ‘fairy circles’ might form
Understanding the origins of mysterious seeps could help prospectors extract natural hydrogen fuel
www.science.org
July 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
An important step to using clean, natural hydrogen fuel⛽ ? Figuring out how it rises tantalizingly close to Earth's surface in "fairy circles"🪨. Read about a new theory in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump’s first administration established a program to prevent satellite collisions. His second administration wants to dismantle it. 🛰️ 💻 "We will see, frankly, a more dangerous space environment," said an industry leader. Today for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Proposed NOAA Budget Kills Program That Was Designed to Prevent Satellite Collisions
Trump’s first administration helped establish the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). His second administration wants to dismantle it.
skyandtelescope.org
July 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Trump’s first administration established a program to prevent satellite collisions. His second administration wants to dismantle it. 🛰️ 💻 "We will see, frankly, a more dangerous space environment," said an industry leader. Today for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Reposted by Hannah Richter
When exposed to UV-C, the most radiation-resistant life form on Earth died in less than a minute. Not so for a hardy black lichen known as Clavascidium lacinulatum. It just kept going and going, even when scientists continued to blast it for moths. Really cool story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social
UV-C light kills nearly everything—except this unusual organism
Built-in Sun protection might be a blueprint for surviving in space
www.science.org
June 27, 2025 at 9:39 PM
When exposed to UV-C, the most radiation-resistant life form on Earth died in less than a minute. Not so for a hardy black lichen known as Clavascidium lacinulatum. It just kept going and going, even when scientists continued to blast it for moths. Really cool story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social
UV-C light is a go-to sterilizer for hospitals and labs. 🦠🔬 Why can this dark desert lichen survive a "mind-blowing level of UV-C harshness" - and could it provide clues to life on other planets? 🌱 🪐 Today for @science.org #astrobiology #biology www.science.org/content/arti...
UV-C light kills nearly everything—except this unusual organism
Built-in Sun protection might be a blueprint for surviving in space
www.science.org
June 27, 2025 at 8:34 PM
UV-C light is a go-to sterilizer for hospitals and labs. 🦠🔬 Why can this dark desert lichen survive a "mind-blowing level of UV-C harshness" - and could it provide clues to life on other planets? 🌱 🪐 Today for @science.org #astrobiology #biology www.science.org/content/arti...